Air-brake indicator



B. STOGIKWELL.

AIR BRAKE INDICATOR Filed March 19 mwwwwm, u

tented any an an:

rnnr STGOKWELL, or TACDMA, WASHINGTON.

are-enema rnnron'ron Application filed March 19, 1925. serial No. team.

To all whomt may concern: Be it known thatYI, BERT S'rocKwErm, a citizenof the limited States, residin at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce andtate of lVa-shington, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Air-Brake In dicators; and .I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled 1 in the art to which it appertains to make and use'thesame. v

Defective brakes are annually costing the railroads of the United Statesand other countries, a tremendous amount every year, as ,so'; far thereis no device in use for determining whether the brakes on box cars orpassenger coaches are working properly, and from my experience of overtwenty years on railroad work, I wish to briefly de-' scribe a fewinciden'ts'which "frequently ocour in connection with trains and cause agreat d'eal of trouble and delay in testing thebrjakes, whether on theroad or on repair tracks-and sidings. 1 i When a train is on the roadand the brakes do not release, flat wheels are caused, as such Wheelsare held firmly and trailed on Y the rails, and in a. great manyinstances, {these flat spots have been known to break the rails and tocause the cars. to jump the track, very often causing serious wrecks.When-a train crew learns that there are brakes sticking somewhere on thetrain, the first thing they do is to stop the train and bleed the airfrom every car to make sure they .get the right one. This means a bigdelay for the train, as very. often the latter is approximately a milelong, and the brakeman must wait by each car until all air has been bledrom the brake cylinder, before he proceeds with the bleedingof the nextcar. *On repair tracks, the employee to whom brake testin is entrusted,connects his air hose with the brake system and then, by means of a longbar, tries the brakes of the numerous cars to see if they are properlyholding.

Such o erations as those above set forth, require t e expenditure of agreat deal of time and labor, both to locate on which car or cars thebrakes are not releasing, and to repair the damage done to the wheels atleast, and often other parts, incurred before it is known that all ofthe brakes are not properly released. It is the object of my inventionhowever, to provide a simple and inex ensive attachment for railway carswhic is preferably ofsuch design that it can be seen at a distance, forinstance, from the caboose of a freight train or from an en-- gine cab,saidattachnie11t; sho\ving at a drawing.

Fi re 1 is a partial end elevation of a' freig t car showing theapplication of my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the indicatorshowing it in the position which it should assume when the brakes areapplied.

.Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but when the brakesare released.

In the drawing above briefly described, 0 designates a portion of afreight car equipped with pneumatic brakes in the conventlonal manner.The brake system includes a pipe P which is ordinarily connecteddirectly. with a retaining valve V, this valve being commonly located inclosepproximit'y'to the hand brake or the car. In or-' der to easilyinstall my invention, I may W connect it with the pipe P. Inaccomplishing this,the valve V is detached, a T-coupling 1 is threadedon the upper end of the pipe P, and the valve V is then connected withthe 'upperend of said'couplinm To the coupling 1, a pipe 2. isconnected, said pipe leading to the indicator and being preferablyprovided with a bleed valve 3. Instead of connecting the signal to thepipe P,

it may be connected to any other desired pressure-containing portionofan air-brake system, and some cars, it will be'remembered, are notequipped with the retainer valve V. v 7

Briefly speaking, the indicator comprises a pressure cylinder 4 adaptedto be suitably secured to the car, a normally retractedpressure-projected piston 5 in the cylinder having a piston rod 6extending to the exterior of the latter, and a visible signaling device7 ,carried by the outer end of said rod. \Vhenever pressure is admittedto the illustrating the position of the indicator til cylinder 4 duringcontrol of the usual brake mechanism, such pressure will act upon thepiston to project the signal 7, and in the present disclosure, thissignal projects be yond one side of the car, so that the signals of theof air entire train may be viewed from the front or the rear end thereofor from any intermediate point. Wihen the brake system is free ofpressure, it is intended that the signal shall return to a retractedposition e51 which purpose a spring one end of a car. .The innerendof'this cylinder is-preferably closed by aca 9 hav ing an openinginto which the pipe 2 is. threaded, while the outer end of the cylinderpreferably curries an open-ended sheath 10 to. receive the indicator '3,when the let ter is retracted as shown in Fig, 3, thus protecting itagainst snow end ice. This sheath is preferabiy provided with an annularinwardly extendingiienge 11 which surrounds the outer end of "thecyiinder; 4-. and is secured thereto by esp screws or the iike Thesheath. is eiso preferably formed with an internal rib 13 which shutsthe outer side of s piston rod guiding plate 14:, said plate being heldby said rib against the outer extremity of the cylinder 4-. The pistonrod 6 passes slidsbiy through central opening 15 in this piste endconnected at its inner and the spring? px-eferably surrounds said pistonrod between ssid piste and plungeu,

shoulder by the piston, 5, cannot inwerdly torce the metal contact withthe piston rod 6 end conseouently, such battering cannot bind thisrociagainst free sliding. The

end with the piston 5,

signal 7 is preferably, although not necessarily in the form ofa ringsecured at its edge to the rod 6. forming the indicator in this shape,it offers minimum re sistsnce to air pressure and thus there is nodanger of such pressure-breaking the indicator from the piston rod whenit is projected, with the train in rapid motion.

As excellent results may be obtained from the details disclosed, suchdetails are preferably followed, However, within the scope of theinvention as claimed, numerous modifications may be made.

I claim:

'1. In .a railway brake indicator, a pressure cylinder having a rodguide at one end,

a rod passing slidably through said guide and provided with a piston inthe cylinder,

an indicating ring on the outer end of said rod, an snnuisr stop,shoulder on the cylinder Wall s seed inwardly from said guide to bestruc by the pistonto limit the movement'of the latter toward saidguide, anda coiied compression spring surrounding the rod between thepiston and'guide for returning said rod and its piston after projectionthereof to the iimit allowed by shoulder, the cylinder being formed withm i but opening from said guide to said shoulder,

said opening receiving said rod and spring and being of considerablygreater diameter than said spring and rod, whereby battering of theshoulder by the piston cannot bind the rod and interfere with. slidingthereof.v

, v An air brake indicator comprising a pressure cylinder adapted to bemounted o a railway car, a piste abutting the outer end of: saidcylinder and having a rod-guiding opening, a pressureactuated piston inthe cylinder provided with. a rodpassing slidabiy through-the aforesaidopening, an indicator-secured to the outer'cnd of said rod,

sheeth normally housing said indicator and having on ennui-er flangesurrounding the edge of said piste, said flange being secured to saidouter end of the cviinder and having an internal shoulder shutting theouter side of the aforesaid plate to secure the latter in place againstsaid cylinder, outer end of said sheath being open to permit projectionof the signal by means of said piston, and means for returning saidpiston otter each projection thereof.

in testimony whereof I have hereunto cf fixed my signature.

nisn'r STQCKWELL.

